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Citizens Union

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Rebuilding NYC






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Lawsuit Seeks to Subject World Trade Center Redevelopment to City Fire and Building Laws

By Andy Humm

The Skyscraper Safety Campaign, founded by family members of firefighters who died at the World Trade Center catastrophe, is about to file a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court to require the Port Authority, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and other developers of the Trade Center site to be legally bound by city fire and building codes.

The Port Authority, a bi-state agency, is not legally required to obey New York City laws and ordinances, but has a policy of "voluntarily" meeting local codes.

Gotham Gazette has obtained a draft copy of the suit, which has been joined by several city and regional elected officials including New York City Councilmembers Alan Gerson, who represents downtown, Christine Quinn (D-3rd district in Manhattan), Helen Sears (D-25th district in Queens), and Congressman Christopher Shays of Connecticut. The Skyscraper Safety Campaign co-chairs Sally Regenhard and Monica Gabrielle and several members have signed on as individuals as well as supporters of the group. Also part of the suit are the Tribeca Community Association, Gateway Plaza Tenants Association, and the Bleecker Area Residents Association, all downtown organizations.

The goal of the lawsuit, according to complainants, is not to oppose reconstruction of the World Trade Center site, but to assure that the safest possible building is built at Ground Zero, and see that it is built according to city standards.

Regenhard has said that she feels her son, a probationary fire fighter, died because the World Trade Center towers were built below code. Questions have been raised about the experimental truss design in such a tall building, the quality of the fireproofing around the metal superstructure, and the fact that fire stairs were consolidated rather than spread out. Better design might not have saved the building from collapsing, but may have given occupants more time and opportunity to escape unharmed.

After Councilmember Gerson wrote a letter to the Port Authority saying he was concerned that the destroyed World Trade Center "may not have conformed" with city codes, the Port Authority replied, "Even though state and federal agencies are normally exempted from local laws and ordinances, the Port Authority, as a matter of long-standing policy, voluntarily meets or exceeds local fire and building codes."

The suit seeks to require compliance with these codes rather than make it a voluntary option. Leaving it up to the Port Authority to "voluntarily" meet city fire codes, the draft suit says, "will subject future tenants, visitors, tourists, and emergency personnel of the City of New York to harm including death in the event of future acts of God, terrorist attack, or other emergency situations." The complainants say that it is also a danger to the health and well being of people in the neighborhood and surrounding region.

The core of the argument in the suit is that the Port Authority, in operating the World Trade Center, has moved beyond its charter functions of improving the ports of New York and New Jersey into proprietary functions as a commercial landlord. Petitioners want a declaratory judgment that the respondents are engaged in "a proprietary rather than a governmental function" and that the redevelopment of the site "be declared illegal, null and void if constructed and/or operated in violation of the New York City Building and Fire Codes."

The suit does not just address the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, but cites the Port Authority for "illegal storage of thousands of gallons of diesel fuel at 111 Eighth Avenue." Councilmember Gerson has called for New York City buildings to stop storing diesel fuel tanks, saying they are a hazard. The thousands of gallons of burning fuel from tanks at 7 World Trade Center may have contributed to the building's collapse on September 11, 2001.

The other respondents named in the suit are Westfield WTC LLC, Westfield WTC Holding LLC, Studio Daniel Libeskind, the architects of the redevelopment, Silverstein Properties, Brookfield Financial Properties, and Marriott Hotel Services.

Gerald McKelvey of Howard Rubenstein Associates, speaking for Silverstein Properties, said, "We have no comment on a proceeding that has not yet been filed." A call seeking comment from the Port Authority was not returned.


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